Natural Selection 2.0

by Various Artists

Released:
Jan 2007

Label:
Nature Sounds

The casual observer would be forgiven for thinking this was a reissue. The production is a choppy pastiche, borrowing the grimy/quirky jazz aesthetic that mid-'90s producers such as Havoc and RZA mastered. Wu Tang in-house producer Mathematics nestles a humming soul loop against the sweetly sluggish drums of "King Toast Queen," while MF Doom's jittery, lowbrow lounge anchors "Project Jazz," which finds Doom's alter-ego, the lewd Victor Vaughn, trading verses with Talib Kweli. Yeah, it's obsolete for those who want their hip-hop to pop, but there's still some magic in this torch-bearing rap.